The idea doesn't start with me. It comes from Regional Transportation Authority Chairman John Gates. And while the RTA once again is being torn apart by one of its patented budget battles, Mr. Gates is absolutely on target with his procurement idea.

Under current circumstances, the RTA's three operating units — the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace — often buy goods and services independently, even when they are buying exactly the same stuff, Mr. Gates wrote last week in a memo to government leaders who select members of transit boards. (Read his memo at the end of this post.)

"The (three) service boards operate in silos and are unaware of what the others currently are purchasing," Mr. Gates says. As a result, "the transit system has failed to take advantage of our scale in order to secure the best price."

It's too bad, he adds, that the three often competing agencies don't even have clauses in their contracts allowing the other transit agencies to get the same price for the same product.

This isn't exactly rocket science, is it? Any corporate procurement officer can tell you about the advantage of economies of scale — or warn you about how intra-office competition can be highly inefficient.

Anyhow, Mr. Gates suggests several solutions.

For one, the RTA ought to create a single website for all publicly solicited bids issued by the RTA and the three operating units so vendors can more easily find out who's in the market and the units can more easily shop. He also proposes that the Legislature order the creation of a joint procurement team so buyers at the RTA and each of the operating units can be informed of what the others are up to and consider collaborating.

I can already hear the howls about that. But Mr. Gates notes that one widely used line of fare-card reading machines normally costs $115,281 per machine. Since Pace and the CTA got together and negotiated a joint deal, though, the price will be as low as $49,803. This is a rare example of what can be gained when the agencies actually work together.

Not everyone likes the RTA. In fact, the Quinn commission is expected to recommend that it be abolished. But centralized purchasing makes all the sense in the world, particularly with politically connected contractors trying to pull strings in the shadows.

So, George Ranney, Pat Fitzgerald and other members of the Quinn panel: Don't throw the baby out with the bath water, OK?